Key figure in Chinese-US college testing scam to be deported
PITTSBURGH — A former University of Pittsburgh student who pleaded guilty to being the go-between for Chinese students who paid to have impostors take college entrance exams received a probationary term on Monday and will be deported.
Han Tong had faced up to three years in prison, however his lawyer asked for a variance and U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti granted it.
The lawyer, James Brink, and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment after the hearing, which was conducted mostly at sidebar, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Tong is one of 15 Chinese citizens charged by federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh last year with conspiring to have impostors take the Scholastic Aptitude Test or other college entrance tests in western Pennsylvania since 2011.